Screenwriting : Submitting query letters to general agency contact emails. by Nikki April Lee

Nikki April Lee

Submitting query letters to general agency contact emails.

This is an issue I've been running into lately as I research literary agencies to send my query letter to. Tonight I researched a pretty good one I found but there is no list of agent names to address directly in my letter. Instead, they have the general contact email (contact@agencyname.com) under their "contact" section.

The problem is, it's unprofessional to send out queries without a specific person to name. I've tries their facebook page, twitter, LinkedIn and even IMDb. I don't have the pro version so I don't have that access but since I don't have a name, who do I address it to? Do I say Dear Literary Agent or To Whom It May Concern?

Justin Kwon

This might be a stupid question, but does the agency accept unsolicited material? If so, then I would just go with "Dear ____ (whatever the agency's name is)." If they do accept specs or queries, then they usually state what they want in the query. Otherwise, just go with "Dear ___ agency."

Jody Ellis

Most agencies do not accept unsolicited screenplays. The ones that do will usually have a blurb of some kind on their website with an email addy for submissions.

Simon Keirn

call the agency and ask who to send queries to, and if they accept unsolicited material. Also make sure to get the name of the person who answers the phone, get to know them. Most likely they are someone trying to get work as an agent or exec and it would be worth having them read your script. they could give notes and if they like it can help get past the "no unsolicited material" firewall.

Danny Manus

theres no point in sending queries to general info@ or contact@ email addresses. either find a name on imdbpro (share an acct with a few friends and its cheap). or find a referral.

Nikki April Lee

That would make sense. Those emails are usually made general questions I suppose.

William Martell

Read the sales in the trades, or (better) subscribe to one of the public tracking board services. They list agents and managers. Do the basic business research.

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